Intraoperative Neuromonitoring is used during surgery in or near the central or peripheral nervous system. It provides a valuable tool for assessing the integrity of certain neurologic pathways/tracts of a patient during surgery. Such monitoring helps in early identification of adverse events intraoperatively as well as providing a valuable tool for assessing the integrity of certain neurologic pathways/tracts of a patient during surgery. The monitoring typically requires placement of 16-32 subdermal needle electrodes in a patient.
Patients benefit from neuromonitoring during certain surgical procedures, namely any surgery where there is risk to the nervous system. Most neuromonitoring is utilized by spine surgeons or neurosurgeons, but vascular, orthopedic, otolarygologists and urology surgeons have all utilized neuromonitoring as well.
Neuromonitoring utilizes subdermal needle electrodes that are shallowly placed in the patient. The needles remain in place during surgery and are removed after the operation. Patients are often repositioned for transport or other reasons while needles are still in place.
Needle tips can reemerge during moving, repositioning, and handling of the patient. Needle sticks, are a general problem in such procedures. There are an estimated 3.5 million needle sticks worldwide annually. The cost for remediation of each needle stick injury is estimated to be about $2,500. The Needle stick Safety and Prevention Act signed into law on Nov. 6, 2000 revised the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) standard regulating occupational exposure to blood borne pathogens, including the human immunodeficiency virus, the hepatitis B virus, and the hepatitis C virus.
From the above, it is therefore seen that there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described herein and above.